Isaiah 1:2-20 A Bilingual Edition

The
opening diatribe of the book of Isaiah (1:2-20) is remarkable for its searing
rhetoric, yet it concludes by offering a return to prosperity should the people
and leaders of Judah heed the word of their God. The speech begins with a call to heaven and earth
to act as witnesses and a summary brief against the nation (verses 2-3). It
ends with an appeal to reach a settlement and a conditional offer of
rehabilitation (verses 18-20).

I
discuss the poetry, unity, rhetoric, and history of interpretation of Isa
1:2-20 here.
In a future post I will provide a verse-by-verse commentary on the Hebrew for
those with no more than a basic knowledge of the language. The purpose of the
following is to encourage appreciation of the Hebrew text as poetry. So as not
to alienate the reader familiar with the received text, the Hebrew is presented
in Tiberian masoretic dress. The phonology the texts instantiated in origin is
a matter of reconstruction. That it differed from the phonology reflected in
the received text is undisputed. As I show in the case of Lam 1 elsewhere,
a reconstruction of the sound and stress patterns these texts would have
instantiated at the time of composition leads to the conclusion that they once
possessed a degree of sonic coherence and orchestration far beyond that
detectable in Tiberian masoretic Hebrew.

Vertical
alignment of versets facilitates the observation of parallelisms. A verset of two
to three stress units is given a line of its own, with stress units marked by the
use of the maqqeph like MT, but not always in accordance with it. Interstitial
gaps of varying dimensions set off lines, strophes, and stanzas. A circulus marks
a text or vocalization at odds with MT, excluding differences of a prosodic or
syntactic nature. Departures from MT
of the latter kind are marked in the sense that MT’s neumes reproduced below occasionally
clash with the construal of the text I propose. An introduction to the building
blocks of ancient Hebrew verse is offered elsewhere: start here.

The English translation
attempts to furnish a global approximation of the poetry and prosody of the
Hebrew, even if the results are necessarily piecemeal. I sometimes retain
examples of enallage, chiasm, ellipsis, and inversion which perforce result in
a less idiomatic rendering. Differences in the use of blank spacing define
stress units, versets, lines, strophes, and stanzas. Minimal use of
capitalization and punctuation is intentional. By and large capitalization
marks the onset of a stanza as defined in the general
rule.

The translation is designed to be read aloud, with the
prosodic and rhetorical flow of the text marked by patterns of intonation. Its
style is indebted to other translations which seek to capture something of the
poetry of the original. Those of David Curzon
deserve particular mention.

Believing is KnowingComments on things like prophecy, predestination, and reward and punishment from an orthodox Jewish perspective, by David Guttmann

Ben Byerly's Blogthoughts on the Bible, Africa, Kenya, aid, and social justice, by Ben Byerly, a PhD candidate at Africa International University (AIU), in Nairobi, Kenya working on “The Hopes of Israel and the Ends of Acts” (Luke’s narrative defense of Paul to Diaspora Judeans in Acts 16-20)

C. OrthodoxyChristian, Contemporary, Conscientious… or Just Confused, by Ken Brown, a very thoughtful blog (archive). Ken is currently a Dr. Theol. student at Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, part of The Sofja-Kovalevskaja Research Group studying early Jewish Monotheism. His dissertation will focus on the presentation of God in Job.

Catholic Biblesa thoughtful blog about Bible translations by Timothy, who has a degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (Angelicum) and teaches theology in a Catholic high school in Michigan

Chrisendomirreverent blog with a focus on the New Testament, by Chris Tilling, New Testament Tutor for St Mellitus College and St Paul's Theological Centre, London

Claude Mariottinia perspective on the Old Testament and current events by a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Chicagoland, Illinois

Codex: Biblical Studies Blogspotby Tyler Williams, a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and cognate literature, now Assistant Professor of Theology at The King's University College in Edmonton, Alberta (archive)

Colours of Scripturereflections on theology, philosophy, and literature, by Benjamin Smith, afflicted with scriptural synaesthesia, and located in London, England

ComplegalitarianA team blog that discusses right ways and wrong ways Scripture might help in the social construction of gender (old archive only; more recent archive, unfortunately, no longer publicly available)

Connected Christianitya place to explore what it might be like if Christians finally got the head, heart, and hands of their faith re-connected (archive)

Conversational TheologySmart and delightful comment by Ros Clarke, a Ph.D. student at the University of the Highlands and Islands, at the (virtual) Highland Theological College (archive)

Daily HebrewFor students of biblical Hebrew and the ancient Near East, by Chip Hardy, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago

Daniel O. McClellana fine blog by the same, who is pursuing a master of arts degree in biblical studies at Trinity Western University just outside of Vancouver, BC.

Davar AkherLooking for alternative explanations: comments on things Jewish and beyond, by Simon Holloway, a PhD student in Classical Hebrew and Biblical Studies at The University of Sydney, Australia

Evedyahuexcellent comment by Cristian Rata, Lecturer in Old Testament of Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology, Seoul, Korea

Exegetica Digitadiscussion of Logos high-end syntax and discourse tools – running searches, providing the downloads (search files) and talking about what can be done and why it might matter for exegesis, by Mike Heiser

Law, Prophets, and Writingsthoughtful blogging by William R. (Rusty) Osborne, Assistant Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies as College of the Ozarks and managing editor for Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament

Lingamishdelightful fare by David Ker, Bible translator, who also lingalilngas.

old testament passionGreat stuff from Anthony Loke, a Methodist pastor and Old Testament lecturer in the Seminari Theoloji, Malaysia

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha BlogA weblog created for a course on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, by James Davila (archive)

On the Main LineMississippi Fred MacDowell's musings on Hebraica and Judaica. With a name like that you can't go wrong.

p.ost an evangelical theology for the age to comeseeking to retell the biblical story in the difficult transition from the centre to the margins following the collapse of Western Christendom, by Andrew Perriman, independent New Testament scholar, currently located in Dubai

PaleoJudaicaby James Davila, professor of Early Jewish Studies at the University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland. Judaism and the Bible in the news; tidbits about ancient Judaism and its context

Serving the Wordincisive comment on the Hebrew Bible and related ancient matters, with special attention to problems of philology and linguistic anthropology, by Seth L. Sanders, Assistant Professor in the Religion Department of Trinity College, Hartford, CT

Targumanon biblical and rabbinic literature, Christian theology, gadgetry, photography, and the odd comic, by Christian Brady, associate professor of ancient Hebrew and Jewish literature and dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State

The Biblia Hebraica Bloga blog about Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the history of the Ancient Near East and the classical world, Syro-Palestinian archaeology, early Judaism, early Christianity, New Testament interpretation, English Bible translations, biblical theology, religion and culture, philosophy, science fiction, and anything else relevant to the study of the Bible, by Douglas Magnum, PhD candidate, University of the Free State, South Africa

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Ancient Hebrew Poetry is a weblog of John F. Hobbins. Opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of his
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